Located 27 kilometers from Huesca , the castle-monastery of Loarre was built on a foothill of the Sierra de Guara (11th century) on top of Roman walls. The accesses to the castle can be done easily, by road, from the surrounding provinces. Next to the castle is the town of Loarre, which has restaurants, rural tourism houses and camping areas.
Its archaeological interest is extraordinary because it preserves its old Romanesque structure ( 11th century ) and, inside, the most important European Romanesque church . The area of land covered is proportional to the dimensions of the entire fortress. The remarkable state of preservation of the complex, except for the damage typical of the passage of time, indicate that it was never besieged or suffered military damage. Hence the castle of Loarre has preserved its original structure to this day.
Its military dependencies are grouped on several floors, which are accessed through a staircase that ascends below the church. Although they are difficult to identify, there are galleries, stables, dungeons, walkways, and even an escape route. Between the wall and the body of the castle rises a watchtower. To the northeast of the complex stands that of the tribute and consists of three floors.
The part corresponding to the monastery is double. The first is made up of a simple chapel, built on the highest part of the mound, has a nave and dates from the first Romanesque (mid-11th century). The second is made up of the church, the most outstanding building in the whole complex, whose construction began at the end of the 11th century and ended a century later. It is composed of a single nave, a barrel vault and an apse.
Access to the enclosure is through a door, located between two semicircular towers, in the wall. Next and through an open space, you come to the lookout tower. Then, after crossing a steep slope, you access the only entrance door decorated with Romanesque capitals, where there is a simple inscription.
Inside the royal palace, walking through arches, passageways and towers, you access the Queen’s balcony, from where you can see spectacular views over the Hoya de Huesca.